Babysitting Bands

10

"Ah--What the hell, Kate!?" Kellin yelled as he shoved Kate off of him. He pushed her back breathing heavily. Kate looked like she was about to cry; her lip quivered and her eyes were wide.

"I-I'm so-sorry...I...I thought--" She started.

"You thought!? That's a first! What is wrong with you Kate!? You can't go around kissing people like that, especially not your ex-husband!" Kellin started blowing up at her. I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kellin, calm dow--"

"I can't calm down! She can't...you can't just...why did you do that!?" He directed to Kate. She readjusted Cope on her hip who was squirming by now, and glanced nervously between Kellin and I. She took a deep breath and dropped her head. There was so much tension in the air, I felt like I was suffocating.

"Kellin, I'm still in love with you...I wanted to see if maybe we could make it work an--"

"Katelynne, no." He cut her off. "We'll never work out. Not like we thought we did before." Kate took a step closer to the bed with tears in her eyes.

"B-But why not? Did you ever love me?" Kate asked. I wanted to leave. I wanted to get out of there and not have to listen to this conversation. Kellin ran his fingers through his hair and sighed before looking up at Kate with a hurt look.

"You cheated on me Kate, I can't forgive you for that." I cringed slightly. I knew Kate had done that, she made a mistake while she was drunk. She explained everything to me. We met after she and Kellin had divorced, but I had been there for her anyway.

"But Kels, it was one mistake! I still love you, I never stopped loving you!" Kate cried.

"Don't call me Kels! I loved you Kate, but I don't anymore. I stopped loving you and I moved on!" Kate looked hurt and devastated by Kellin's words. She clutched Copeland to her chest but Cope started wriggling around more.

"Mmm...Mommy!" Cope screamed. Kate tightened her grip.

"Shh. It's okay, Cope, Mommy's here." Kate cooed to her. But Cope screamed again and twisted partially out of her grip.

"No! Other Mommy!" She reached out to me as she desperately tried to escape Kate's grasp. I reached out to catch her but Kate still held that confused and horrified expression.

"Copeland, I'm Mommy. That's Brandy." Kate said. Copeland turned in my arms and glared at Kate with tears in her eyes.

"Daddy loves Bwandy and Bwandy loves Daddy. Daddy doesn't love you anymore so you're not Mommy." Cope directed to Kate. My jaw dropped. She actually thought I was her mother? Kate stared at Cope in disbelief. Slowly she shifted her gaze up to me.

"Kate I--" I started.

"You two are together!?" She screamed. I froze. I didn't know how I could answer her without making this worse.

"Yeah, we are." Kellin chimed in. "Have been for weeks." He added just to piss her off. I sent Kellin a quick glare but he shrugged.

"We saw the Wittle Mermaid!" Cope yelled. She clung to my side as Kate shot daggers at me.

"You stole my husband and my daughter." Kate accused. My eyes grew wide and I shook my head.

"No, no Kate--"

"You stole them! You stole my family! You ruined my family!"

"You ruined it yourself when you slept with half of my friends!" Kellin yelled. "Is Copeland even mine!?" He asked. Kate looked offended. "You ruined this family, Kate. Brandy has raised Cope more than you, no wonder she thinks you're not her mother. You did this yourself." Kate was fuming. She stomped her foot and ripped Cope from my arms.

"How dare you. Both of you!" She spat at us. Cope started screaming again and hitting Kate. "You will never see Copeland again, Kellin." She said as she turned and walked towards the door.

"What!? You can't do that! She's my daughter too!" He struggled to get out of the bed, but he was tangled in wires and blankets.

"Kellin, take it easy, you were jus--"

"No that's my daughter! That's my dau--oww!" He finally got out of the blankets but when he stood up, his leg gave out and he almost fell. I grabbed his arm to keep him up and helped him back on the bed.

"Hey, she can't keep you from seeing her. Everything's going to be okay." I told him as he struggled against me.

"C-Copeland!" He yelled with tears streaming down his face. I held him down as much as I could, but he was strong. "Brandy, m-my baby!" I nodded and shushed him as he cried. I sat on the edge of the bed and hugged him.

"I know, Kels, I know. It's going to be okay, I'll talk to her. She's just upset. She can't keep Copeland from you." A nurse ran in soon after Kate left and looked to me.

"What happened?" She asked as she shooed me out of the way. She started to fix the wires and IV's that Kellin had started yanking out of his arms when he freaked out.

"Um, family troubles..." I stated. Kellin was still sobbing and clutching my hand tightly. The nurse turned to me when she was finished and glanced back at Kellin.

"Can you control him? If he does that again he'll have to be sedated until he calms down. We wouldn't want him to hurt himself." I shook my head.

"That won't be necessary, he'll be okay." She nodded.

"Alright. He should stay the night, and with a prescription for pain meds he can be discharged tomorrow. You're the sister, right?" I cocked my head.

"Um, no, I'm his girlfriend." I said, confused. The nurse paused before continuing.

"Then who was that other woman who had the baby?"

"His ex-wife and daughter." I explained. The nurse nodded in understanding.

"Well, for his own safety, I suggest you keep an eye on him for a while until all this drama gets cleared up. And try to keep him away from her for now."

"Yeah, that won't be a problem." I sighed. The nurse left and I went back to sit with Kellin. He had his knees pulled up to his chest and was rocking back and forth. His arms hugged himself and he looked so disconnected from the world.

"She took her. She just took her. She took my baby girl. She took my daughter." He mumbled to himself. I wrapped an arm around him and kissed the side of his head.

"You're going to get her back, Kellin. We'll get Copeland back."